HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL: Paraclete quarterback Tyler Carvalho remains in control

It's nice to have a confident quarterback in the playoffs, and Paraclete's Tyler Carvalho has the Spirits playing with a high level of belief entering the Southern Section Mid-Valley Division championship at 7p.m. Friday at Monrovia (11-2).

Carvalho has completed 58.6 percent for 1,592 yards and 23 touchdowns in addition to scoring four touchdowns, and his best performances have come over the past couple of weeks. He was 13 of 16 for 205 yards and three touchdowns, in addition to one rushing touchdown Friday in a 28-20 semifinal win over San Dimas, preceded by a 270-yard, four-touchdown performance in a quarterfinal win over El Monte.

Over the past four games, beginning with a Nov. 2 victory over Sierra Canyon to clinch the Alpha League championship, Carvalho is 41 for 53 - a .773 completion percentage - and 11 touchdowns.

Overall, he has been intercepted six times, but just once over the past 11 games.

"Tyler is very focused on what he's doing right now, and he has the weight of the team on his shoulders," Paraclete coach Norm Dahlia said. "I'm extremely proud of him. I just can't say enough good things about him. He's been very, very efficient, and has pulled us out of some tough situations leading this offense."

On game nights, Carvalho need only glance to his right for inspiration.

His older brother, Cameron, won two section championships in 2008 and '10 as a Paraclete quarterback, and they're always together on the sidelines, the older brother rooting for his younger one, as Paraclete seeks its ninth championship overall and the eighth since 1997.

"I've been playing here for four years, so I've played with both brothers, and as people they're like exactly the same," Paraclete running back Antoyne Hutcherson said. "Maybe Tyler has just a little bit more poise."

Like brothers, the Carvalhos are competitive between one another, but more so they're each others' biggest fans.

"Cameron has helped me a lot, and he's supported me a lot," Tyler said. "He has two titles under his belt, and I'm going to try to match that by getting another. Just watching him has helped me a lot. After the game, he'll congratulate me, then he'll kind of get on me. He says he was the best, but of course I say it's me."

The way Paraclete's offense works, Carvalho's main focus is leadership and execution.

"It's important to have someone who knows the system and knows how to run it because our system isn't the easiest," Dahlia said. "Passing the football is always part of the game but not in our game plan. We pass when we want to, not because we have to - for efficiency and not desperation."

Dahlia calls his style a "ball-control offense," and the quarterback is the one with the football.

It also helps to have a positive attitude, and Carvalho has a good grasp of team concepts.

"He's an absolute dream to coach. He's very attentive," Dahlia said. "Everything about him is what a coach would want. He takes stuff in and doesn't fight you on anything. And when he changes a play at the line of scrimmage, he's very successful, so I trust him 100 percent."

And it helps to be durable and resilient, especially when you're a 5-foot-11, 165-pound standing target, and defenders much bigger and stronger are looking to knock you out of the game.

"Oh, he's tough. He's taken shots some quarterbacks would have never come back from," Dahlia said. "Just his will to play, he's a competitor. He wants to be the best at what he does."

For the record, the elder Carvalho passed for 25 touchdowns as a senior, so Tyler needs two to catch him. If top-seeded Paraclete (12-1) is fortunate to win and get a Div. III regional bowl berth, there could be as many as two more games for the Spirits.

Like any steady leader, Carvalho doesn't look too far ahead. In the playoffs, the one-game-at-a-time motif makes the most sense.

"It doesn't matter who play. We're just going to work hard," Carvalho said.